[year/rating] 1978 R [genre] College Comedy [director] John Landis [starring] John Belushi Tim Matheson John Vernon Donald Sutherland

Tagline

It was the Deltas against the rules... the rules lost!

Summary Capsule

Delta House fights against the administration, fellow students, and oppression of parties everywhere.

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Justin's Rating: Spank-a-Doodle-Dandy
Justin's Review: There are scenes in this movie that are certainly innovative and fascinating, and even more that draw attention to sheer crudity and a spirit of gross-out. The point where I nearly lost my lunch came in a "morning after" scene, where a college co-ed and her professor are milling around the house. The professor is Donald Sutherland, who parades around in nothing but a shirt and effectively moons the audience. That, my friends, shocked my hormones into a coma from which they still have not recovered.

"Deep inside my gut, when it isn't going 'Feed Me Bad Pizza,' it tells me that this film is certainly not worthy of the national obsession it caused."

If you're not familiar with any of the Lampoon movies, they typically revolve around a group of weirdos doing weird things, while trying to have sex and get drunk. The epitome of this can be found in National Lampoon's Animal House, a 70's film about a 60's frat. It's somewhat awkward and devoid of a driving plot, instead following around various members of Delta House as they wreak havoc at college. Inevitably, The Man tries to take away Delta House, and the frat is forced to fight back.

I never really liked this film. Don't get me wrong, I consider this John Belushi's second greatest role (after The Blues Brothers), but other than his character Bluto, the movie staggers around like we've gotten drunk along with the frat. Funny moments are overshadowed by offensiveness for the sheer sake of being offensive; characters we care about are shoved aside for more drunken orgies. Hey, I'm as ready as the next guy when it comes to strapping on a bedsheet and shouting "Toga! Toga! Toga!", but the spirit of anarchy in this film only gets fun toward the end.

And in the last fifteen minutes lie the only redeeming part of Animal House. Let's just say, you don't keep a good frat down. If the rest of the movie got a D-, this segment would get an A.

I'm not comparing this movie to any other one, since this film single-handedly started the crazy college genre. But deep inside my gut, when it isn't going "Feed Me Bad Pizza," it tells me that this film is certainly not worthy of the national obsession it caused. Perhaps you disagree. But remember, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, as long as it agrees with mine.

Kyle's Rating: My house? Three unwashed freaks short of official Delta House status
Kyle's Review: If you’ve been in college, you know that even though it’s more mature than high school, it’s still important to have a protective circle of friends. And that’s what Animal House is to me: the story of a fraternity house full of friends. They don’t have much in common, just drinking beer and drinking some more beer, but isn’t that enough in this crazy world of ours?

"It is more than a movie, it is a social statement, a commentary on a generation."

This has just the anti-heroes you need: college students who just want to have fun, and drink some beer, rather than worry about graduate. Why would you want to, really, and leave all this drinking?

If you don’t like a bunch of college kids drinking, you probably won’t like this movie, where the drinking is interspersed around tales of petty revenge, first-time drug use, and using accidental death to get chicks. All the action is set against the battle for a small college town. Don’t see Animal House expecting life-altering Oscar-calibre acting or any plot of any kind: see it because it’s fun and it all ends well. And you’ll never look at beer, or Jack Daniels, the same way again.

One last thing. If you don’t quite trust the advice of a young whippersnapper like me who was barely a dream in my parents’ head during the 60’s, trust the words of my extraordinarily wise college philosophy teacher, Mike, who always had this to say about Animal House: “You do underrate the importance of Animal House. The movie came out during my freshman year in college when I joined a fraternity. Of course I can barely remember the three years that followed. It is more than a movie, it is a social statement, a commentary on a generation.”

He still drinks today, I’ve heard, so he’s as wise as he ever was.

Andie's Rating: S-I-G-M-A, Sigma-Chi-Delta hey!
Andie's Review: Can you believe I'd never actually seen Animal House all the way through until just a few weeks ago? It's true. I'd seen most of it, but never all at one time. What I discovered when I finally sat down to watch it was a hilarious campus comedy!!! If you've ever been in college this is funny and if you've ever been in a Greek organization, this is downright hysterical. Parts of this almost caused me to snort Coke out my nose (the pop, not the drug).

"Parts of this almost caused me to snort Coke out my nose (the pop, not the drug)"

These guys seriously have no idea how close they really came to Greek life. Every campus has their scary, preppy fraternities like the Omegas. I've heard stories about some of the things our frats do to their pledges and the spanking thing is probably not far off. Every campus also has their run-of-the-mill, fun party guys like the Deltas. Incidentally, at both college campuses I frequent the fraternity that is most like Bluto's Delta Boys is, interestingly enough, Delta Chi.

I thought the plot about losing their charter was pretty much there just so they could show us all the craziness of Neidermeier and the Omegas and all the wacky hijinks of Bluto and the Deltas. It really did nothing but provide a somewhat plausible tie-in for everything and also gave us a terrific ending. Personally, I think PCU pretty much ripped off the entire plot right down to losing the charter, a tyrannical Dean of the University, and throwing a big party instead of doing something more productive. Animal House did it first and did it better, but PCU is still pretty funny.

Anyway, Animal House has so many outstanding moments. I love when Pinto (Tom Hulce, who I've always had such a thing for) is debating with himself on whether or not to go for the passed out girl and the little devil and the little angel pop up on his shoulder. That is classic. And when he takes her home in a shopping cart, rings the doorbell and runs for his life? I about peed my pants that made me laugh so hard. The antics of this movie are so outrageous and yet believable that they make it great. The final scene ALONE is worth the price of admission. Last year for Homecoming, my team's float was a giant white cake that said Eat Me on it and the Delta Chi float was a car made up to look like the Deathmobile. Pretty cool. I would love to see somebody wreak havoc like that on our homecoming parade. Especially the messing with the marching band. What a bunch of sheep!

Anyway, I also love the relationship between Katie and Boon, even though she does start sleeping with skeazy Donald Sutherland (seeing his ass was enough to scar me for life). I totally do not understand this affair because I think Boon is really cute and sweet and she goes for yucky hippie professor instead? Ewwwwww. But beyond everybody else, I absolutely LOVE Otter. He is so slimy and skanky while also being totally cute and charming. I mean, he uses his "girlfriend's" death to wangle dates and picks up Dean Wormer's wife. How smooth is that?

I truly think Animal House has something for everyone. It is so hilarious and silly and exactly what you wish your college career could be like. I think a fun Friday night (when you're not out at a Toga Party) would be to stay in and make it a double feature of Animal House and it's 90s counterpart, PCU.

toGA! toGA! toGA! Peeping Toms get a bad rap, we think Popping zits is soo relieving

Didja Notice? [some sources: IMDb]

• The movie concludes by describing each character's fate. Niedermeyer was "killed in Vietnam by his own troops." In director John Landis' segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie, some soldiers are overheard discussing "fragging Niedermeyer."
• Although Faber College's location is never mentioned, the Tennessee state flag can be seen in the background in one or two scenes.
• On Delta's fraternity banner, the motto "Ars gratia artis" can be seen. This also appears in the studio logo of MGM.
• During the lecture on Milton, the handwriting for the word "Satan" on the chalkboard changes from scene to scene.
• This movie marks the film debut of Kevin Bacon.
• The content of the Psychology 101 exam reveals that it was a history exam.
• The movie takes place in 1962; Bluto sings "Louie, Louie". While the Kingsmen version was not released until 1963, it had already been recorded at least twice, and the 1961 version was a regional hit in the Pacific Northwest. The Kingsmen were performing it regularly in the Portland area before their May 1963 recording session. So Bluto could have heard either an earlier version or (more likely, since their version was different from the earlier ones) seen the Kingsmen live.
• When Katy is walking through the kitchen with her bare behind showing, she passes a refrigerator with a US Bicentennial sticker on the door. The Bicentennial wasn't until 1976.

Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?

At the very end of the credits there's an Advertisement for Universal Studios Hollywood. Then it says Ask for Babs.

Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]

Co-writer Chris Miller based the National Lampoon short stories that gave rise to the film on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth (from which he graduated in 1962). Harold Ramis, who also co-wrote the film, based some of the pranks on his college experiences at Washington University in St. Louis; specifically when Otter and Boone are hitting golf balls at the ROTC.

The Delta House actors were brought to the set 5 days before the Omega House actors to get into character, in an intentional effort to cause cliques to form.

Babs becomes a tour guide at Universal Studios. The credits for this film (and other John Landis films) include an advertisement for a tour at Universal Studios. The ad says, "Ask for Babs." As of 1989, Universal Studios no longer honors the "Ask for Babs" promotion, which was either a discount or a free entry.

Virtually unheard of; "Toga Parties" became all the rage in colleges all over America after the release of this film.

Donald Sutherland was so convinced of the movie's lack of potential, that, when offered a percent of the gross or an upfront payment of $40,000, he took the upfront payment. Had he taken the gross percentage he would have been worth an additional $30-40 million.

Groovy Quotes

Bluto: My advice to you is to start drinking heavily.
Otter: Better listen to him, Flounder. He's pre-med.

Dean Wormer: The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.

D-Day: War's over, man. Wormer dropped the big one.
Bluto: Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Otter: Bluto's right. Psychotic, but absolutely right. We gotta take these bastards. Now we could do it with conventional weapons that could take years and cost millions of lives. No, I think we have to go all out. I think that this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part.
Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.

Flounder: May I have ten thousand marbles, please?

Katie: I think I'm in love with a retard.
Boon: Is he bigger than me?

Otter: He can't do that to our pledges.
Boon: Only we can do that to our pledges.

Otter: Flounder, I am appointing you pledge representative to the social committee.
Flounder: Gee Otter, thanks. What do I have to do?
Otter: It means you have to drive us to the Food King.

Dean Vernon Wormer: I've got their disciplinary files right here. Who dropped a whole truckload of fizzies into the swim meet? Who delivered the medical school cadavers to the alumni dinner? Every Halloween, the trees are filled with underwear. Every spring, the toilets explode.

Bluto: See if you can guess what I am now... a zit, get it?

Dean Vernon Wormer: Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.

Otter: But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

Soundtrack Review

A good collection of 60's hits, including "Louie, Louie", "Twistin' The Night Away", "(What a) Wonderful World", and "Shout".

If you liked this movie, try these:

• PCU
• Dead Man On Campus
• Road Trip